Why is America punching below its weight on happiness?

It's a good time to be alive in America. The wealthiest nation on earth, though, is full of unhappy people, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker points out on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer.

"The United States is the anomaly because it's rich. It's more or less democratic, but it has lower life expectancy. It has poor scores on math tests, has more obesity, more drug addiction, more violence," Pinker tells Ian Bremmer. So you'd think Americans would be fat and happy, but it turns out they are fat and unhappy.

Compared to its wealthy counterparts, the United States punches well below its weight in terms of happiness and quality of life given its wealth. Pinker offers many reasons for that anomaly, seen through the lens of his approach to measuring the state of human progress.

Watch the GZERO World episode: Is life better than ever for the human race?

Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld and on US public television. Check local listings.